Railway-rail stay.



lie- ,738,499. PATENTEDSEPT. '8, 1903.

' H. H. SPONENBURG.

RAILWAY RAIL STAY.

APBLIOATIOI IILBD JUNE 17, 1903. N0 MODEL.

a I i a IWVE'NTOR V UNITED STATES Patented September 8, 1903 PATENT OFFICE.

HIRAM II. SPONENBURG, OF WADSWORTH, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONF- HALF TO ED WARD LAAS, OF ELGIN, ILLINOIS.

v RA LWAY- RAIL STAY.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 738,499, dated September 8, 1903. Application filed June 17, 1903. Serial No. 161,830. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, IIIRAM H. SPONENBURG, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Wadsworth, in the county of Lake, in the State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Railway-Rail Stays, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear,

and exact description.

This invention relates to the class of railstays which are designed to prevent longitudinal creeping of the rails on railways.

The object of the invention is to provide a rai1-stay which shall be simple and inexpensive in construction and efficient in its operation; and to that end the invention consists, essentially, of a bar provided with an abutment engaging the cross-tie in opposition to the longitudinal movement of the rail, jaws projecting from said bar, and a key inserted into one of said jaws and gripping the base of the rail between said key and opposite jaw; and the invention also consists in novel details of the construction of the rail-stay, as hereinafter fully described, and set forth in the claims.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of the improved rail-stay applied to the track-rail of a railroad. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the rail-gripping key, and Fig. 4 is a transverse section on line X X in Fig. 3.

. (t denotes the track-rail, and b one of the cross-ties which support said rail.

0 represents a bar which extends across the under side of the rail CL and is formed with a downwardly-projecting abutment d, which engages the side of the cross-tie Z; to prevent longitudinal movement of the rail a, which is secured to said bar by means of my improved fastening devices, formed as follows, to wit: The top of the bar 0 is provided with rigid upwardly-projecting jaws c and c at opposite sides of the rail a and preferably formed integral with the bar. The two jaws are at a sufficient distance from each other to allow a space between the jaw e and edge of the adjacent flange of the rail, while the other jaw, e, engages the flange on the opposite side of the rail, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. Into the jaw e is inserted a suitable key f, which is slightly tapered endwise, so that in driving the key into the jaw the base of the rail becomes firmly gripped between the said key and jaw e and prevents the rail to from creeping longitudinally by the resistance of the abutment cl engaging the side of the cross-tie. To insure a more positive hold of the key on the rail, I provide the key withtransverse notches a, forming teeth 0, which bite the edges of the rail-flange and the'interior of the jaw, so as to prevent accidental loosening of the key from its hold. I also prefer to form the key f with a longitudinal groove 9 to allow it to lap onto the top of the engaged edge of the rail-flange and obtain additional hold 011 said flange.

The bar 0 with its abutment (Z and jaws e e, in combination with the key or wedge f,

constitute my improved rail-stay.

To allow the said rail-stay to be readily applied to a rail mounted and secured to the cross-ties I form the top of the bar 0 with a depression h adjacent to the jaw c. This depression allows the rail-flange to enter the jaw c and the bar 0 to be tilted endwise and shifted laterally to cause the jaw e to engage the rail-flange. After the bar is thus placed in position the key f is inserted and driven into the jaw e to obtain a firm hold on the flange of the rail and on the inside of the jaw. If desired, the key may be applied in a Verti cal position, as indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings.

\Vhat I claim as my invention is- 1. A railway-rail stay consisting of a bar provided with an abutment engaging the cross -tie in opposition to the longitudinal movement of the rail, jaws projecting from said bar, and a key inserted into one of said jaws and gripping the base of the rail between said key and opposite jaw as set forth.

2. A railway-rail stay consisting of a bar provided with an abutment engaging the side of the cross-tie, jaws projecting rigidly from the bar at opposite sides of the rail, and a key inserted into one of said jaws and gripping the base of the rail between said key and opposite jaw as set forth.

3. A railway-rail stay consisting of a bar formed with an abutment engaging the side of the cross-tie and with upwardly-projecting jaws at opposite sides of the rail and a depression in the top of the bar adjacent to one of the jaws, and a key inserted into the latter j aw and gripping the base of the rail between said key and opposite jaw as set forth.

4. A railway-rail stay consisting of a bar formed with an abutment engaging the side of the cross-tie and with upwardly-projecting jaws at opposite sides of the rail, and a railgripping key inserted into one of said jaws lo and formed with a longitudinal groove in the raitgripping side as set forth.

HIRAM H SPONENBURG. [L. s] Witnesses:

XVILLIAM J. FENDIOK, THOMAS STRANG. 

